Walking up to this Buick the first time, the mind runs down through the inventory of first impressions: nice shape to the body, everything in good taste, awfully familiar, they still build these?

Yep, pretty much unchanged since 1997, along with its Century stablemate. Do we say "proven product"? Or "senior citizen"?

For sure, the 3800 pushrod V-6 traces back to Buick's porthole era. It makes an unfashionable growl on acceleration, but it also makes decent thrust when you dip into it, getting to 60 mph in 8.1 seconds. All the Regal's acceleration measures are better than the group's average.

That said, the driving experience is GM of yore. The steering is highly damped and dead to the touch. A stiff anti-roll bar up front minimizes body roll in polite motoring and melts the front tires into howling understeer if you hustle. Cornering grip measured weakest of all by a wide margin, at just 0.71 g.

Ancient GM greets the driver's eyes, too. The speedometer dial recalls the Chevy Vega GT, with its segment marks cringing inside the circle of numbers, making the gauge appear tentative; micro blue kph marks huddle toward the center, embarrassed by their worthlessness. There's a feeling of insincerity, of pretense, about this instrument panel, reinforced by the emptiness of the outer two dials; they contain only stencils, masks for warning lights. GM has better ways now, long after this Buick entered the pipeline.

Before we leave the topic of insincerity, consider the leather-wrapped steering wheel, which lavishes its leather where your hands rarely go. Wrapping is cheaper if you keep it well away from the tricky intersection where spokes meet rim.

We rather liked the gray herringbone cloth on the seats, until we settled into the driver position. Settled? Sunk? Submerged? Lumbar support is zip. The Regal ranked lowest in driver comfort.

In back, the seat has a plush feel and the cushion is nicely contoured, but space is less than in the others. Three abreast is tight on the shoulders and egos.

For the record, this senior Buick and all the other sedans here have fold-forward rear seatbacks, giving you hauling capacity for that 10-foot pole you've been threatening not to touch things with. Foreign competition is compelling, even at Buick.